


We All Fall Down When We Fight

by FreakCityPrincess



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, But also characters having fun!, Cassian's Competence Kink, F/M, Post-Scarif, RebelCaptain Secret Santa Exchange 2019, Space!Siblings Jyn & Bodhi, Sparring, angst & feels, mentoring, rebellion era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:06:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21999457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakCityPrincess/pseuds/FreakCityPrincess
Summary: In the immediate aftermath of Scarif, the reactions that the daughter of Galen Erso and the ex-Imperial pilot receive in the rebellion are not always pleasant.Jyn's solution is to teach Bodhi how to deal with physical confrontation. Cassian watches from the shadows until he can no longer bring himself to.They're not a chance alliance,Bodhi thinks.The Force is at work here.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso, Jyn Erso & Bodhi Rook
Comments: 13
Kudos: 92





	We All Fall Down When We Fight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anothersadsong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothersadsong/gifts).



> Happy holidays to @oh-nostalgiaa and this amazing fandom! Here is my contribution to the RebelCaptain Secret Santa Exchange of 2019. 
> 
> The prompt was **sparring turns sexy,** which I assure you it will, eventually :)
> 
> Enjoy!

“They didn't...teach me an awful lot, you know," Bodhi swished his drink with naturally jittery fingers. Well, it hadn't always been _natural_ for him. Saw Guerrera’s torture techniques had come along, and it had broken him, twisted his nerve endings— and then he’d lost an arm in the suicidal act of chucking a live grenade out of his ship, their ship, on Scarif. It was an act that saved their lives, even if it had compromised his own. Bodhi couldn’t have regrets about that because the alternative was too terrible; but sometimes, when circumstances prompted him, he wondered what he could’ve done differently, if there’d been a way to win on all fronts. “I was on track to becoming a cargo pilot from the beginning. My family, ah, had a history in that line of work, and it was big leap when I got into working for the Empire. It was just...courier companies before, you know? For a couple of years, before I found myself in the Myomar Academy.” 

Seated across from him at the corner table they usually secured for themselves, Jyn’s eyes tore away from his nervously tapping digits and met his gaze. Bodhi swallowed. One of his hands shook uncontrollably because he was recovering from Bor Gullet’s invasion, and the other shook because he was adapting to the prosthetic. The new hand didn’t have a casing yet. Sometimes, the scrape of metal on every surface he touched was disconcerting. Sometimes he woke up having forgotten where he was, only to feel a cold palm under his cheek and pain in because something was off. He’d never told Jyn any of this...but somehow, he felt she _knew._

She drowned her own glass of milk before responding critically, "You need to know enough to defend yourself."

Bantha milk was no rarity on Yavin Base- the Alliance was fond of rationing, but when it came to the distasteful nutritions that they called _requirements,_ there tended to be just enough to sustain everyone. Under the hot, humid air that hung above them the milk gathered layers of bacteria that added a bitter taste that burned. No one kept it on their tongues long enough to allow the sensation. Jyn wiped some congealed liquid from her mouth before continuing. "He could've snapped your neck if he was trying."

And here, Bodhi knew, was the crux of their problem; three weeks after Scarif, they were still outcasts, and not well-received ones at that. While the rebellion was aplenty with Imperial defectors, not all of them had been related to the Death Star— not all of them had been related to the destruction of Alderaan. And, in Jyn’s case, being the flesh and blood of an Imperial scientist who’d facilitated that destruction was enough. 

Bodhi's metal fingers drummed against his glass, a nervous impulse, and he deliberately pressed his palm to the table. "It was a friendly fight," he insisted, the hitch in his voice revealing otherwise. 

Jyn snorted. "Shavit." She hesitated, then leaned across the table with her head ducked low. "Look, we’re not accepted here. I know it comes off as safe sometimes, but you and I aren't Chirrut or Baze. We're the ones they whisper about, not them. That's why while Chirrut can conduct his hand-to-hand combat classes and get everyone's admiration, we get cornered into fights. So if you want to _survive_ this Base, much less the Empire on missions they'll send you on, you've got to learn how to hold your own in a fight.”

Bodhi shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not wanting to meet her eyes, or even look down at his digits. The milk in his glass was turning grey, developing patterns, curdling slowly and thickly. "Do you suppose they'll...train me? I enlisted, officially, or...or I said I would."

He didn't know which was worse, the risk of turning sick from the milk or losing Jyn’s respect. Her eyes had started to narrow thinly by the end of his sentence. 

"Are you serious?” she growled. “Before you pledge them your life and loyalty on paper— because a Force-forsaken _suicide mission_ for their cause doesn't seem to be good enough— no one is going to look out for you. And the chances are they'll send you into more death traps before they teach you anything. Do you really trust them?"

 _Not all of them,_ he wanted to say, but Jyn hadn't exactly looked pleased with Chirrut the last time he'd mentioned Cassian's on and off _favours_.

"I haven't been doing nothing, you know," he retorted instead. "Chirrut gave me a few lessons when he was free and he promises I'll make progress.”

He knew what Jyn was thinking; if he'd retained anything at all from said lessons, she wouldn't have found him rinsing copious amounts of blood and grime from his face and neck in the common 'fresher at a deserted hour. 

Still, Jyn didn’t mention it. She only leaned back in her seat looking mildly exasperated. 

"I can help," she offered.

Bodhi jerked upright in surprise, eyes betraying his surprise at the words. Jyn had just offered to teach him? Teach _him?_

She continued, waving dismissively as if embarrassed. Trying to make it look like no big deal, but the deliberate way she avoided directly looking at him curbed the effect. "I don't see why you need to continue like this, and I don't see this thing stopping either. Not for a long time. Something has to be done about it."

"Uh...yeah," Bodhi said, stupidly. Then, collecting himself: "That sounds like a good idea. We have to stick out for each other." He reached for his glass, noted the extent of discolouration, and twitchily withdrew his hand. "I mean, there's nothing...there's nothing I can offer you, not really, and you don't...you don't have to do this for me. But we...we do stand a better chance if we work together."

Jyn craned her neck, like her muscles ached. "I don't want anything."

"If it helps," Bodhi pressed. "I promise I'll watch your back. I _will_ look out for you, even though I won’t make much of a difference."

She stared at him strangely, for about two long, uncomfortable seconds, and concluded in a barely perceptible but straight voice, "Okay."

Bodhi flinched. Did he come off as too trusting? Manipulable? Jyn and Cassian were pictures of the struggles of rebellion, and even though he hadn't a detailed knowledge of their pasts he'd known Galen, and he'd heard enough to know that Jyn didn't come from the happiest background, hadn't had the luxury of trusting people beyond an early point in her life. He could hypothesise the same about Cassian and the other rebels he'd gotten to know, however briefly. But Bodhi meant what he said; he wanted to look out for Jyn, whether or not she really needed it, maybe because of his friendship with Galen or because they faced the same problem. If anything surprised him, it was that she was willing give him part of her own trust as well.

Jyn cleared her throat, interrupting his thoughts. "Are you fine with mornings?”

He smiled even though he probably shouldn't have, but until recently smiling had come naturally to him. "Mornings sound nice."

"Their training hall is mostly deserted before six," she explained, nonchalant. "Four?"

"Okay." Kriff, he really was smiling now, because someone was doing something nice for him. In an everyday context that was a perfectly valid reason to smile, but Jyn might think him weak him if his emotions were so obvious. _Trump the idiotic grin, Rook. Have you never known hardship in your life? That's probably why no one accepts you here._

She nodded, stiffly. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow at four, then."

"Of course." 

But he couldn't bury his upbringing. On Jedha is family had been religious, taught all kinds of values and ideals that didn't fit in with a galactic civil war.

 _Kriff it._ He had to carry what was left of Jedha. 

"Jyn?"

She'd been on the verge of leaving, Bantha milk completely drained. 

Bodhi met her look of question with a grateful smile. "Thank you."

  
  
  


Her lessons started the very next day in the early hours of morning, inside the stone walls of a Massasi pyramid that had been modified for the purpose. The sun hadn't yet come out and a thick, skin-raising fog blotched around the pyramids and trees still carried the cold of Yavin's night. There were only four others in the sparring hall at that time- probably the members of a small task force, but they didn't pay the newcomers any heed. It was easy to find a section of hall well out of their sights. 

Bodhi had been cheerful since they'd met in the morning, clearly not missing the extra hours of sleep he would have been able to catch were it not for their new routine. Jyn had decided at the first happy _good morning, Jyn!_ that today, being the first day, maybe it would be best to go easy on him.

" _Ah!_ ”

Jyn caught the ex-Imperial pilot moments before her kick landed him on his rear. His eyes were wide and startled, and ten minutes into their session, he looked winded for breath. 

“Are you sure they taught you anything at all at your Academy?” 

Bodhi huffed, a little indignant. He accepted Jyn’s help in getting back to his feet. 

“I didn’t go to one of the best, you know. Myomar was as backwater as it got. The flight course instructors, especially. They were mostly not bothered.”

“Your combat skills are shit.” 

“Thank you. That’s very encouraging.” 

Jyn shook her head, stepping back again. “Let’s go another around. This time I’ll play slow, dumb opponent. I’d better be the one getting thrown to the floor this time.” 

Bodhi cracked a weak grin. “Or you’ll give up on me?” 

Jyn met his gaze coolly. "Or you'll affirm that your combat skills really are shit.”

Bodhi didn't protest. "How slow and dumb?”

Jyn snorted. "In real life, Rook, your opponent doesn't exactly put it into words and prepare you for how he fights."

"Okay," Bodhi adopted a fighting stance like she’d showed him. It looked horribly awkward, making his enthusiasm shine. "Okay, I'm ready. Come on."

Nothing the look she was giving him, his face fell. "Oh. Am I doing something wrong?" 

Without a word of warning Jyn drove her fist, lighting fast, into his gut, winding him and sending him stumbling back. He barely managed to stay on his feet. Still catching his breath, he treated her to a glare of incredulity, disbelief and hurt all at once. 

"I _said_ , your opponent is never going to tell you how he fights," Jyn reminded him, unfazed. "You have a really long way to go, Rook.”

Bodhi wondered if he would last even half that way if it continued like this. 

  
  


If anyone asked- and nobody did, nobody even knew to- whether it was Jyn's lessons or Chirrut's that he preferred, he'd immediately answer that it was the blind monk's. Chirrut was gentle and humorous with his teases and words of advice, and even if he made a joke about how you swung your fists as effectively as a tooka cat trying to scale a bantha, you only laughed along and felt a little sheepish. 

Jyn was a merciless, brutal fighter and had actually given him more bruises than the people who were truly wary of him on Base. But if given the option of discontinuing the early morning lessons, he knew he'd swiftly refuse. However way she showed it, Jyn was willing to help and while she remained a strict instructor during their lessons, she was slowly starting to loosen up around him and the time they spent outside of it was becoming a lot more fun as the days progressed. Yavin was starting to empty of rebel ships and rebels, and by the end of their first week of sparring even the four task-force members couldn't be seen in the pyramid at dawn. 

They had just finished their third bout for this particular morning- with a good number of Jyn's punches being dodged on his part, he was definitely getting better at _that-_ when they noticed they had an audience. 

"Not bad at all," Rostock commented from the entrance to their chamber. "Don't mind me. Just came around in search of Andor. You didn't happen to see him around, did you?”

It had been a _while_ since anyone mentioned Cassian in front of Jyn, but Bodhi didn't know enough to recognize the problem with mentioning him at all. 

Jyn only raised a slow, skeptic eyebrow. "At this time?"

Serchill raised his palms in defense. "Don't ask me. The man's always up at odd hours doing Draven-knows-what. Sometimes wanders around these ruins like a caf-deprived ghost, I kid you not. Ruins too. It really is a strong comparison."

Serchill was probably not fully awake yet if he was cracking jokes and making friendly conversation, and so he probably didn't notice the annoyed way Jyn turned back and angled her body in Bodhi’s direction, poised to strike yet again. Bodhi, however, saw every bit of it. 

"Are you okay?" he asked without thinking, his concern getting the better of him.

"Focus," snapped Jyn, shifting to block his exit. Her fists were threatening enough that he could only bring himself to quietly mirror her stance and murmur an apology. 

Serchill didn't press them, and went away whistling. Definitely not awake, then. 

Bodhi grimaced. Good for him. _He_ wasn’t the one on the wrong end of Jyn’s fists.

  
  


Nevertheless, Jyn acted as if the interruption hadn’t happened, but he noticed that she turned a tad more aggressive in her teaching. She didn’t take it out on him, thank the Force for that, because his self-defence skills had only evolved so much, but when she spent the rest of the early morning teaching him how to dodge a heavier opponent, she was a little less patient than usual. 

But her cloudy mood faded away at the end of their session, as they fell back into the easy camaraderie developed over the last few weeks. Routinely, after every session, they walked together to the communal shower stalls, where he would take the stall on one end of the room and she would use the one furthest from it. The showers in his Imperial Academy had been segregated by gender, and it had made sense there- but here, in the rebellion, there was a lot more diversity, humanoids and those with completely different structures, different requirements and different social ideals. So the communal freshers on Yavin Base were open, with some stalls modified to be larger or smaller than the others as a general means of accommodating different species. 

Sometimes Bodhi was grateful for it, because he had a habit of forgetting to take his towel in with him and Jyn would only sigh wearily before tossing it over his stall door. It was a small gesture but it felt nice, having a friend you could rely on. 

Jyn was at the front of the room, before the fogged-up and yellowed mirror, tying her hair into its customary bun when he stepped out of the stall. Her eyes flickered up to meet his in the mirror. 

“Sorry if I was a little hard on you today,” she said, a bit stiffly, but not without sincerity. He bowed his head. 

“No, it’s okay. It wasn’t that bad.” 

Jyn sighed, dropping her arms limply by her sides. “I still owe you an explanation.” 

Bodhi swallowed. “You don’t. Don’t have to tell me. You don’t owe me anything.” 

She turned around, leaning back against the sink counter. Bodhi eyed it warily. Made of the natural stone that Yavin possessed in abundance, it had gathered a queasy amount of moss and was rotting away at the edges. She was brave to lay a finger on it. 

“I haven’t seen Cassian,” she said abruptly, cutting to the chase. “Not since he was discharged from medbay. He’s free to roam around now and he’s not tied to a bed or inside a bacta tank. And I haven’t seen him.” 

Bodhi took in a sharp breath. “You think he’s avoiding you?” 

“I don’t know.” Her shoulders dropped, and he could see right through the nonchalant front she was putting up. “I don’t care. He can do whatever he wants, but it wouldn’t hurt to... _say_ something. Acknowledge my existence to my face, rather than going around behind my back and warning people to give me a wide berth. I don’t need his _protection._ ”

Bodhi fidgeted uneasily, unsure of how to respond to that. He understood, he really did- it wasn’t a great feeling, feeling like you’ve been discarded, when people you once knew stopped talking to you- but on the other hand, he appreciated what Cassian was doing for them, however secretly. It meant he cared. He wasn’t great at showing it, but it was _felt_. 

“Maybe- maybe you should talk to him?” he offered weakly, preparing himself for a scathing objection.

But it never came. Jyn merely raised her walls backs up, her expression closing off, like she was done with being vulnerable for the day. She shook her head in response to him, but that was all he got. She picked up her pack and headed for the door. 

Bodhi didn’t believe in plain coincidence. He believed in _luck_ , and the way of the Force- that people did not meet by coincidence, but by the Force’s doing, that every meeting of compatible minds was predestined and always meant to happen. Meeting Galen Erso was the most significant such event in his life- it _seemed_ a stroke of luck that a cargo pilot harbouring doubts over the Empire’s moral integrity would meet a high-ranking Imperial scientist plotting the Empire’s downfall, but one conversation with Galen had altered the course of his destiny and fulfilled Galen’s own. 

Watching them work during the Scarif operation, Bodhi had thought the same of Cassian and Jyn— two people destined to meet, because the Force knew it was a waste to keep them apart, who’d achieve great things together. And they had. If he hadn’t known better, Bodhi would’ve sworn that the two of them had known each other their entire lives with the effortless way they complemented each other on that mission. 

Now he wondered if he was wrong about that. 

Ahead of him on the path, Jyn came to an abrupt halt, staring straight ahead at the entrance of the pyramid they’d left before heading for the showers. Concerned and a little confused, Bodhi ran to catch up with her. He looked around for what had caught her attention. He froze. 

Cassian Andor stood there, at the entrance of the pyramid, hidden under the arch of the doorway. He was looking inside, presumably at the empty sparring hall, holding himself upright with the aid of a cane and the doorway. 

He turned away from the empty insides, leaning heavily back against the pyramid wall. 

Breaking out of his silent motionless so suddenly that Bodhi jumped back, Cassian slammed a fist against the wall in frustration. He swore something vicious that Bodhi didn’t catch. 

“Jyn-” started Bodhi, turning her way to ask if they should go, only to find that she’d marched on ahead along the path, making a beeline towards Cassian. 

He panicked, because Jyn was _not_ in a good mood, and he’d like to take her side but he didn’t want her yelling at Cassian, who was _also_ his friend, but there was little he could do to stop her. Cassian sensed her approach and turned her way, his eyes going wide. Bodhi slinked into the shadows, hoping the thick undergrowth was enough cover. A small part of him urged him to leave as fast as he could, but he wasn’t brave enough to risk getting caught in the crossfire. The only way forward was ahead, where he’d definitely be seen. There was nothing in the jungle behind him but the decrepit communal freshers. 

He watched with a pinch of guilt as Jyn confronted Cassian, asking him a question that he couldn’t hear from this distance. Daring to be bolder- and against his every natural instinct- Bodhi walked further along the path, not wanting to _eavesdrop,_ but hoping he could catch something. 

“Walk with me?” Cassian asked, pushing off the pyramid wall. Afraid they would come this way, Bodhi took several steps back into the forest cover. But Jyn agreed stiffly, and they started walking the _other_ way— which was more than fine by him. 

He got out of the undergrowth when the coast was clear, only mildly disappointed he hadn’t got to hear the rest of the conversation. But the greater part of him felt relief- it had been wrong, anyway, to listen where he wasn’t allowed. He just wanted to help. More than anything, he wanted to _understand_ the situation between his friends so he knew where he stood in all this, if he could possibly convince them to re-establish that dynamic that the Force had brought them together for. 

He didn’t want to see that go to waste. If his connection with Galen had gone to waste, the Death Star would never have been destroyed. Who knew what price the galaxy would pay if Jyn and Cassian never worked as a team again? 

Bodhi was not so foolish as to believe he didn’t also have personal hopes for them. Maybe having a handful of loyal friends was enough for him, but he wanted Jyn and Cassian to find more- _so much more-_ in each other. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Bit of a teaser chapter here XD 
> 
> Updating soon, with Cassian really entering the scene and some Realtionship stuff happening! Poor Bodhi is going to have two pining rebels on his hands :)


End file.
